This invention relates in general to structural panels, and in particular to load floors for automotive vehicles.
Automotive vehicles often include load floors to support cargo loads on the vehicles. The load floors must be very strong to support heavy loads. In the past, the load floors have been made from relatively thick materials, and usually heavy materials, to provide adequate strength.
Different types of vehicle load floors are disclosed in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,998 to Malinowski, U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,962 to Valentin et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,136,259 to Puffenberger et al. However, there is no suggestion in the patents to make a thin, lightweight load floor.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,613 B1 to Stein et al. discloses a method of molding a door trim panel assembly using expanded polypropylene. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0022423 A1 to Kroening et al. discloses a method of molding a seat cushion with an elastic insert surrounded by an expandable foamed plastic. These patents are unrelated to structural panels such as load floors.